Clamped in my own parking space

Rynox45 · 20-08-2012 9:17am

When our car was clamped outside our house for being parked in front of the house instead of in the garage (It's a housing estate with practically no traffic) our neighbour offered to cut it off as his had been clamped too.
After we removed it we had no more trouble

Don't do that though, this was just an anecdote for entertainment purposes and it was, although justifiable, illegal (I think, can they just clamp you without due warning?) :rolleyes:

Zamboni · 20-08-2012 9:31am

The lesson I am taking from this thread is to remove the clamp (in the context of private property and private operators).

Paulw · 20-08-2012 12:07pm

cookie1977 wrote: »

Yes but that's just day to day (year to year) stuff. Do you really think the non payers care about that sort of thing? I don't.

People tend to care when management fees increase, clamping comes in, etc.

And, usually, the ones who moan about their fees tend to be the ones who haven't paid in full. They also moan about things not being done, even if the management company don't have the funds (due to them not paying).

Jaysoose · 20-08-2012 3:47pm

Paulw wrote: »

People tend to care when management fees increase, clamping comes in, etc.

And, usually, the ones who moan about their fees tend to be the ones who haven't paid in full. They also moan about things not being done, even if the management company don't have the funds (due to them not paying).

Yep have seen it firsthand with having to listen to one of my neighbours moaning about getting reminders to pay his management fee all the while he was placing 3 full black bags of rubbish into the communal bins he hadnt paid to use. Was gonna have a go but i figured it would be wasted on him.

Grolschevik · 07-10-2012 7:57pm

Corkbah wrote: »

the thing to also note is that (and I'm open to correction on this) private clamping companies have no basis in law so you are legally able/allowed to remove the clamp yourself (assuming you dont damage the clamp and give it back to them) - you are on private grounds so the Gardai have no authority unless you are damaging the clamp.

Bumping this because I just saw a new condition our management company voted to introduce at a recent EGM: if a clamp is removed, a €120 charge will be applied to the apartment owner's account.

Thought it was an interesting development that may provoke discussion. Obviously could only be applied to allocated spaces.

NB: the quoted post was quoted solely because it was the first one I saw that mentioned self-removal. My post is in no way a personal response to Corkbah himself.

djimi · 07-10-2012 9:47pm

And if they cant prove who removed the clamp? I cant see that one being enforceable tbh; not unless someone is stupid enough to be seen on camera removing the clamp...

Dionysius2 · 09-10-2012 11:33pm

My understanding of the law in regard to clamping of vehicles on the public roads goes as follows. An offence must first be alleged by the authorised officer, i.e. the official designated parking attendant (ODPA) who issues a ticket to the vehicle. Then and only then can the clampers spring into action, i.e. they are entitled to clamp a vehicle that is parked in contravention of the parking laws and to which a parking notice has been affixed. An important point at issue here is this : it is for the official designated parking attendant to identify the transgression and not the clampers. Clampers per se have no part in identifying offenders......their function is to follow the actions of the ODPA and affix clamps to the vehicles identified by the ODPA.
If the clampers move ahead of the ODPA or apply clamps where no offences have been alleged as shown by the issue of affixed notices then they are invoking powers that they do not have since it is positively not their function to identify offenders.
In summary therefore.....if the clampers have clamped you in the absence of an affixed notice then you should refuse to pay as no offence has been alleged against you. You can only be clamped in a public place 'where an offence has been alleged' and it is no function of the clampers to allege anything.....they have no such authority and are acting in excess of their powers if they do otherwise.

Additionally, the issue of a notice AFTER the clamp has been fixed is contestable and does not remedy what was an illegal act, i.e. the clamping of your vehicle without legal authority. Judges will not accept the manipulation of the law to rectify 'official' mistakes.

rat_race · 09-10-2012 11:47pm

Dionysius2 wrote: »

My understanding of the law in regard to clamping of vehicles on the public roads goes as follows. An offence must first be alleged by the authorised officer, i.e. the official designated parking attendant (ODPA) who issues a ticket to the vehicle. Then and only then can the clampers spring into action, i.e. they are entitled to clamp a vehicle that is parked in contravention of the parking laws and to which a parking notice has been affixed. An important point at issue here is this : it is for the official designated parking attendant to identify the transgression and not the clampers. Clampers per se have no part in identifying offenders......their function is to follow the actions of the ODPA and affix clamps to the vehicles identified by the ODPA.
If the clampers move ahead of the ODPA or apply clamps where no offences have been alleged as shown by the issue of affixed notices then they are invoking powers that they do not have since it is positively not their function to identify offenders.
In summary therefore.....if the clampers have clamped you in the absence of an affixed notice then you should refuse to pay as no offence has been alleged against you. You can only be clamped in a public place 'where an offence has been alleged' and it is no function of the clampers to allege anything.....they have no such authority and are acting in excess of their powers if they do otherwise.

Additionally, the issue of a notice AFTER the clamp has been fixed is contestable and does not remedy what was an illegal act, i.e. the clamping of your vehicle without legal authority. Judges will not accept the manipulation of the law to rectify 'official' mistakes.

Would be good if you could provide some legal documents to support this.

djimi · 10-10-2012 9:35am

Dionysius2 wrote: »

My understanding of the law in regard to clamping of vehicles on the public roads goes as follows. An offence must first be alleged by the authorised officer, i.e. the official designated parking attendant (ODPA) who issues a ticket to the vehicle. Then and only then can the clampers spring into action, i.e. they are entitled to clamp a vehicle that is parked in contravention of the parking laws and to which a parking notice has been affixed. An important point at issue here is this : it is for the official designated parking attendant to identify the transgression and not the clampers. Clampers per se have no part in identifying offenders......their function is to follow the actions of the ODPA and affix clamps to the vehicles identified by the ODPA.
If the clampers move ahead of the ODPA or apply clamps where no offences have been alleged as shown by the issue of affixed notices then they are invoking powers that they do not have since it is positively not their function to identify offenders.
In summary therefore.....if the clampers have clamped you in the absence of an affixed notice then you should refuse to pay as no offence has been alleged against you. You can only be clamped in a public place 'where an offence has been alleged' and it is no function of the clampers to allege anything.....they have no such authority and are acting in excess of their powers if they do otherwise.

Additionally, the issue of a notice AFTER the clamp has been fixed is contestable and does not remedy what was an illegal act, i.e. the clamping of your vehicle without legal authority. Judges will not accept the manipulation of the law to rectify 'official' mistakes.

Clamping on a public road and clamping on private property are usually two very different things; clamping on a public road is usually carried out by the local council, who have full legal backing to clamp cars. In this case I would imagine the parking warden checks the cars, and then calls in the clampers where a car is breaking the rules. The parking warden notes the offense, the clampers deal with the punishment.

On private property its different; the clampers are effectively doing the job of the parking warden as well. They monitor the car park, and where an offense is being committed they deal with it. They are acting with the concent of the management company, or whichever body hired them to patrol the carpark.

Whether or not the system for clamping on private property is correct or not is anyones guess, because it appears that there is no legal legislation on clamping on private property one way or another.

Victor · 10-10-2012 1:23pm

Dionysius2 wrote: »

My understanding of the law in regard to clamping of vehicles on the public roads goes as follows. An offence must first be alleged by the authorised officer, i.e. the official designated parking attendant (ODPA) who issues a ticket to the vehicle. Then and only then can the clampers spring into action, i.e. they are entitled to clamp a vehicle that is parked in contravention of the parking laws and to which a parking notice has been affixed. An important point at issue here is this : it is for the official designated parking attendant to identify the transgression and not the clampers. Clampers per se have no part in identifying offenders......their function is to follow the actions of the ODPA and affix clamps to the vehicles identified by the ODPA.
If the clampers move ahead of the ODPA or apply clamps where no offences have been alleged as shown by the issue of affixed notices then they are invoking powers that they do not have since it is positively not their function to identify offenders.
In summary therefore.....if the clampers have clamped you in the absence of an affixed notice then you should refuse to pay as no offence has been alleged against you. You can only be clamped in a public place 'where an offence has been alleged' and it is no function of the clampers to allege anything.....they have no such authority and are acting in excess of their powers if they do otherwise.

Additionally, the issue of a notice AFTER the clamp has been fixed is contestable and does not remedy what was an illegal act, i.e. the clamping of your vehicle without legal authority. Judges will not accept the manipulation of the law to rectify 'official' mistakes.

I think you are making things up.

But anyway, can we stick to the topic.

Moderator

Dionysius2 · 10-10-2012 2:01pm

Victor wrote: »

I think you are making things up.

But anyway, can we stick to the topic.

Moderator

Mod Victor - with respect, I have checked carefully what I have written and am perfectly happy with it. However, I accept your point that it may be off topic as I am talking about parking on the public thoroughfare etc and the thread topic is about private parking. Therefore I will digress.

Stark · 10-10-2012 2:58pm

Can you quote statutes?

Mikros · 10-10-2012 9:18pm

Dionysius2 wrote: »

My understanding of the law in regard to clamping of vehicles on the public roads goes as follows. ....

Your understanding is a bit off. :rolleyes:

Clamping activities carried out by local authorities and by private companies hired by them are regulated under the Road Traffic (Immobilisation of Vehicles) Regulations of 1998, which give effect to Section 101(B) of the Road Traffic Act 1961, as inserted by section 9 of the Dublin Transport Authority (Dissolution) Act 1987

Authorised persons for the purposes of section 101B

(a) a member of the Garda Síochána;
(b) a person appointed in writing by a local authority for the said purposes;
(c) a traffic warden.

The parking regulations are set by bye laws and the clampers would be authorised by the local authority to give effect to the clamping. Also

(7) A person who—
(a) obstructs or impedes an authorised person, or a person acting under his direction, in the performance of his functions under this section, or
(b) without being authorised to do so under this section, removes or attempts to remove from a vehicle an immobilisation device fixed to it under this section, is guilty of an offence.

Just to be clear - this only refers to public roads - clamping on private property does not come within the scope of Road Traffic legislation.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1987/en/act/pub/0034/sec0009.html#sec9
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1998/en/si/0247.html
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1961/en/act/pub/0024/sec0101.html#sec101

Clamped in my own parking space

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